If you need some tips, resources, redlines and corrections on your art, or if you want to share your knowledge about drawing, this is the right place! Show off your progress with before-and-afters, give and receive valuable critique and feedback, and meet some amazing artists.

If you need some tips, resources, redlines and corrections on your art, or if you want to share your knowledge about drawing, this is the right place! Show off your progress with before-and-afters, give and receive valuable critique and feedback, and meet some amazing artists.

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When designing a character, names matter. Often, the name alone says a lot of about a character - it's a reflection of where they're from, who they are, and what they might become. In developing a character design, the name is often the spark that inspires. So for this December, you are challenged to draw a character inspired by a name. Here's how this will work:

Leave a comment on this journal saying you're in. (If you know folks who might love to be in on the challenge, tag them in!)

I will reply by giving you the name of your character, and (maybe) a hint or two about the name.

You draw a character design inspired by the name and post a link to it in a comment on this journal.

A few examples of the kinds of names you might get:

Lady Unauvial Battlefate

Qrymupho Knuemsehzu

Hong Nguy (name origin; Vietnamese, female)

Amanda Sparks

Your character may be from any time period, genre, or species. You can use the name you're assigned as literal inspiration (Battlefate sure sounds like a warrior name, right?), or ironically (what if she's a street sweeper?), or however your imagination wants. Here are some questions that might be useful when thinking about your character's name:

What kind of character might have this name?

What world, genre, or environment might this character live in?

Do you think the name was given to the character by its parents, friends, community, or self-selected?

How old might the character be? What gender? Could it be a child? An elder?

What might this character be doing?

If human, what ethnicity might this character be? What body shape?

Think outside the box!

Rules:

You must base the character on the name you're given.

You cannot change the name or add or subtract from it.

The name must be in the picture in some way.

You can do this challenge many times, but I will only give you one name at a time.

The picture for the challenge can be any style, medium, or form.

For some additional inspiration, here are some resources and character designs from around dA to get the juices flowing:

Wow this is a really great way to run a group! Seems like it'd be a lot more helpful to redraw an image or see it redrawn than it is to just get a critique and say "I'll keep that in mind for the next drawing." It'll be fun getting involved with this group! Nice to meet you all!